A look back at the 1953 floods. Local historian, David Salmon 74, lived on Beach Road in Sea Palling during the floods.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

Archant Norfolk 2013

It was all a bit of an adventure for two schoolboys living in Sea Palling at the time of the great flood in January 1953.

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A look back at the 1953 floods. Sidney Laws 70, lived on Waxham Road in Sea Palling during the floods.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

Only in later life did David Salmon and Sidney Laws come to realise the true horror of a night which claimed seven fellow villagers’ lives.

But Mr Salmon, then 14, will always be haunted by the memory of a rescuer carrying the dead body of Doris Fox to an ambulance.

Until then it had been an ordinary Saturday for Mr Salmon, whose home was on Beach Road.

He remembers travelling by coach to play football at Bacton. “As we were going through Walcott at about 2pm a huge wave came over and hit the coach – bang. I remember the driver saying: ‘I’m not coming back this way’”.

Meanwhile in Waxham Road, Mr Laws, then aged 10, was sleeping, blissfully ignorant of the nightmare scenes just half a mile away.

He remembers looking out of his front windows the next morning: “The old coastguard lookout was gone,” he said. A visit to Beach Road revealed more mayhem, with furniture strewn over the fields, together with the contents of Mr HE Holmes’ shop. He added; “There were tins of sweets and Oxos everywhere.”

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Sea Palling floods of 1953

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A look back at the 1953 floods. Local historian, David Salmon 74, who lived on Beach Road in Sea Palling during the floods, holds a postcard showing a view of Sea Palling before the floods.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

A look back at the 1953 floods. Sidney Laws 70, lived on Waxham Road in Sea Palling during the floods.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

A look back at the 1953 floods. Sidney Laws 70, lived on Waxham Road in Sea Palling during the floods.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

A look back at the 1953 floods. Sidney Laws 70, lived on Waxham Road in Sea Palling during the floods.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

A look back at the 1953 floods. A view of Sea Palling today.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

A look back at the 1953 floods. The memorial plaque on the wall of Sea Palling Church.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

A look back at the 1953 floods. Local historian, David Salmon 74, lived on Beach Road in Sea Palling during the floods.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

A look back at the 1953 floods. Local historian, David Salmon 74, lived on Beach Road in Sea Palling during the floods.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

A look back at the 1953 floods. Local historian, David Salmon 74, lived on Beach Road in Sea Palling during the floods.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

A look back at the 1953 floods. Local historian, David Salmon 74, who lived on Beach Road in Sea Palling during the floods, holds a postcard showing a view of Sea Palling before the floods.
PHOTO: ANTONY KELLY

1953 FLOODS
SEA PALLING
DATED EDP 2.2.53
PLATE P0008

Floods 1953 - Sea Palling
Sea Palling was crushed when the sea broke a 100-yard gap in its protecting dunes. The Longshore Cafe was carried away as the sea smahed through. Its proprietor, Doris May Fox, was rescued by villagers but died at the Cock Inn soon afterwards. The bodies of her children Stephen (13 ) and Merie (8 ) were recovered the next day.
DATED 2ND FEBRUARY 1953
PLATE P0047